


First Order Engineering

by Rebelwerewolf



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Based on a True Story, Board Games, Engineers, M/M, One True Pairing, Out of Character, Take Your Fandom to Work Day, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rebelwerewolf/pseuds/Rebelwerewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Star Wars: The Force Awakens characters at my work for <a href="http://takeyourfandomtoworkday.tumblr.com/post/141684975977/take-your-fandom-to-work-day">Take Your Fandom to Work Day</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	First Order Engineering

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a true story. Seriously.

“I’m so glad it’s Friday,” Finn groaned as he flopped bonelessly onto the massive couch, a relic of the ‘80s. He pulled a fuzzy blanket over his head.

Poe inched closer and, lifting the blanket, placed a gentle kiss on his husband’s forehead. “You don’t have to work this weekend, do you?”

Finn shook his head. “No, thank goodness. We got our projects checked off today, and the next one doesn’t get assigned until Tuesday.”

“Any plans for the weekend?” Poe asked, absentmindedly carding his fingers through Finn’s hair.

“I’m not moving from this couch until I have to go to work on Monday,” Finn announced proudly.

It wasn’t that Finn didn’t like his job. On the contrary, Finn thought he had the best job in the world. After years of working as a product specialist for a sanitation company, where his role was to write instructions for toilet paper, it was exciting to finally land a job at First Order Engineering.

The past month had been stressful, though. First Order Engineering had a rigorous four-month-long new employee training program designed to familiarize new hires with their entire product portfolio. There were lectures and tests and projects — all of which made Finn feel like he was back in college. Except for the fact that _they_ were paying _him_ to learn, so he couldn’t be too upset when he had to pull all-nighters or work weekends. Still, it was nice to finally have a free weekend to just relax.

“How did your project go?” asked Poe.

Finn beamed. “Really well. My manager even said my code was elegant.”

“Buddy, that’s great!” Poe exclaimed. “See? I knew you’d be awesome at this job!”

“I’m awesome at _everything_ ,” Finn joked as he pulled Poe down for a kiss. Finn’s stomach growled loudly, and they dissolved into fits of giggles.

“Well, I guess I’d better make dinner,” Poe said, still laughing.

Finn got up and, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders like a cape, followed his husband to the kitchen, his plan to remain on the couch the entire weekend already forgotten. “Oh hey, something funny happened at work today.”

“Yeah?” Poe was already rummaging through the fridge and didn’t look back as he responded.

“Yeah, so you know how we have those mandatory Friday morning chats with Snoke, the VP? He says we can ask him anything, but, like, everyone’s half asleep so we just eat the free bagels and listen to him ramble about how much he hates eggs. Anyway, this one guy Kylo raises his hand and asks Snoke where he would recommend going for a fourth date. So Snoke’s like, ‘Are you asking for yourself, or hypothetically?’ and Kylo turns bright red and insists that he’s asking for a friend.

“Snoke starts asking questions like ‘Where did you go for the first three dates?’ And Kylo’s saying shit like ‘ _My friend_ went to this place,’ but it’s super obvious that he’s asking for himself. And Snoke actually gives him a recommendation, says he should take his date to this expensive restaurant downtown. I can’t remember the name.

“Then immediately afterward, the guy who sits next to Kylo — his name’s Eoin, but he goes by Hux, which is his last name — he raises his hand, and when Snoke calls on him, he asks, ‘How do you politely decline a fourth date?’ And Snoke just _cracks up_. It was hilarious.”

As he told his story, Finn gradually started laughing harder and harder, until by the end of his tale, he was doubled over with his hands on his knees and fat tears rolling down his face. Poe only gave an amused chuckle and a shrug.

“You had to have been there,” Finn gasped, trying to catch his breath.

* * *

 

Finn sat in class, trying his best to pay attention to the instructor as she talked about how to obtain and store data using OSIsoft Pi. It was nearing lunchtime, and his ability to concentrate had reached a new low. To his left, Phasma was taking impeccable notes on her laptop. To her left, Dopheld Mitaka was completely tuned out, watching a YouTube video and wearing a pair of headphones over his ears. Finn looked down at his notebook, where the only thing he had written all day was a rough sketch of several squares labeled “server”, “interface node”, and “client”. He’d have to ask Phasma to email her notes to him before the test on Friday.

Suddenly, a chat window popped up on Finn’s screen.

Eoin Hux: is Kylo safe?

Eoin Hux: his computer is off

Eoin Hux: i'm about to mobilize the troops

Finn squinted at his laptop and attempted to decipher this strange request. He looked over at Kylo, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the classroom.

Finn Dameron: he’s in class

Finn Dameron: why?

Eoin Hux: we need to make lunch plans

Eoin Hux: when is your class taking lunch?

Finn Dameron: not sure

The clock on his laptop read 11:26 AM. Finn looked helplessly toward the front of the room, where the instructor was lecturing on the differences between Performance Equations and Totalizers. It didn’t look like they would be breaking for lunch any time soon.

“Psst,” Finn whispered to Rodinon, who sat across the aisle from him. “Can you pass a message to Kylo?” He tried not to arouse the instructor’s suspicions, which was difficult in a class of only thirteen people.

“Sure,” said Rodinon. He didn’t bother trying to be subtle at all and scooted his chair toward Finn. “What’s the message?”

“Tell him to turn on his computer.”

Rodinon turned to the man next to him, his best friend and doubles ping-pong teammate Datoo, and whispered something Finn didn’t catch. Finn briefly thought of the games of telephone he played as a kid and wondered if the message would be changed to something completely different by the time it reached Kylo. A minute later, he glanced over to see Kylo opening his laptop and giving a thumbs up.

Kylo Ren: i got your message

Kylo Ren: what’s up

Finn Dameron: Hux wanted you to message him

Finn Dameron: [heart eyes emoji]

Kylo Ren: where did you find that emoji?????

Finn Dameron: click the smiley face for the emoji menu

Kylo Ren: thanks

Finn imagined Kylo sending a stream of heart eyes emojis to Hux and had to bite back a chuckle.

The instructor finally allowed them to take lunch at noon. “Want to play a board game?” Dopheld asked eagerly. Finn and Phasma quickly agreed. Playing board games at lunch had become their little ritual.

Finn munched on the sandwich that Poe had packed for him while Dopheld shuffled the cards for _Days of Glorbin_. It was a quick game that lasted under a half hour, so the trio could usually fit two rounds in during a lunch break. The objective of the game was to send your adventurers out to defeat the monsters depicted on the cards. At the end of the game, the player with the most monster kills would be the winner.

Games were always intense. Dopheld and Phasma were extremely competitive and enjoyed fighting each other over monsters with a large side of trash talk. Finn had never actually won a game since they’d started playing, but that didn’t bother him. He just liked the camaraderie and the welcome break from work.

Today was different, however. “Twenty-one monsters,” Dopheld announced.

“Twenty-four here,” said Finn who was surprised to have beaten Dopheld.

“Nineteen. I hate you both,” grumbled Phasma.

* * *

 

“A group of people from work are going out for wings,” Finn said in lieu of an actual greeting. Their two mutts BeBe and Artoo danced around his legs.

“I missed you too, buddy,” quipped Poe, planting a firm kiss on Finn’s lips. “Where are they going?”

“Maz’s.” The full name of the restaurant was Maz’s Cantina and Car Wash, which Finn had always found confusing. As far as he could tell, they didn’t actually do car washes at Maz’s; it was just a restaurant.

“Who all’s going? Anyone I know?” asked Poe.

“A bunch of people. Hux, Kylo, Dopheld —”

“Kylo’s the one whose birthday we went to at the bar?”

“No, that was Matt. They look really similar, so I can see why you’d be confused.”

“Right. Dopheld is definitely the orange guy, though.” Finn nodded. Dopheld had earned himself the moniker by wearing head-to-toe Philadelphia Flyers gear in bright orange whenever he wasn’t at work.

By the time Finn and Poe arrived, their party had already been seated at a table built to look like the front end of a race car. In addition to the coworkers that Finn had mentioned, Unamo and Thanisson were there as well. Unamo was a dark-haired chemical engineer and a foodie who initiated most of the group dinners. Thanisson was a brilliant young man, a walking Wikipedia who made delicious home-brewed beer. Poe seemed a little disappointed that the group had come to the restaurant straight from work, which meant that Dopheld was wearing a yellow button-down shirt instead of a bright orange jersey.

They ordered unlimited wings for the table, which resulted in an assortment of flavors ranging from mild to ultra spicy. Finn and Poe were the only ones who dared to eat the ultra spicy wings, and though they both insisted that it was the best flavor, everyone else declined to try them.

“Stop licking your fingers,” Hux chided Kylo. Finn looked up from his wings just in time to see Kylo stick two fingers in his mouth and suck on them in an exaggeratedly indecent manner. He didn’t realize he was staring in disgust until he felt Poe’s elbow jabbing him in the side.

“They’ve been flirting the whole night,” Poe whispered.

Finn, who wasn’t the best at reading people, thought back to Kylo and Hux’s interactions during the entire training program, and his eyes widened in comprehension. “No,” he corrected. “They’ve been flirting for the past three _months_.”

After the table had paid their checks, Hux was the first to rise. “Kylo, let’s go,” he said impatiently. He punctuated his statement with a hard shove that sent Kylo tumbling out of his chair and onto the ground, where he sat with a betrayed look on his face. As everyone else at the table laughed at their hijinks, Hux helped Kylo off the ground and wrapped him in a tight hug. Again, Finn and Poe shot each other knowing glances.

As they walked to their car, Finn and Poe noticed Kylo and Hux whispering to each other in the parking lot. “I know I’ve said it was wrong to ship real people,” said Finn, “but those two are my new OTP.”


End file.
